I recently purchased a Viewsonic G-Tablet from Sears for $379, which was a good deal considering it came with a free docking station. At first use, I was ready to return it, as the native interface was just terrible. However, after doing a bit of digging on the web, I found some great information on the forums at xda-developers.com on how to really make this device fly.

Now granted, this stuff is not for the non-technically inclined as it involves doing some things that if done wrong, can really mess up your device. However, I was able to do a bit of reading and easily follow the instructions on how to Root this Android 2.2 device, how to install the Google apps, including the Marketplace (which is needed to easily download the best Android apps), how to install Flash 10.1 which gives me the full web experience including all of YouTube videos (something you will never be able to do on an iPad!). In the end I found that this Android 2.2 G-tablet can scream performance wise, and with the full flash web experience, full app store and 16:9 HD video this is definitely a worthy competitor for the iPad as it can do a number of things that the iPad cant. USB port, built in camera/webcam, wireless b/g/n, bluetooth, great audio and video support, these are the things that a tablet needs.

See the video below for a visual review of what the tablet does once it has been properly tweaked!

Pensacola Computers Presents: G-Tablet from Viewsonic, terrible as stock, but once tweaked and rooted it rocks. Google apps installed, including marketplace, Flash 10.1, Pandora, Winamp. Full YouTube website all videos available – you won’t get that on an iPad. nVidia Tegra is speedy, and this is definitely a great tablet if you aren’t afraid to do some rooting – thanks to everyone at xda-developers.com.

Update: After manually rooting and installing, I then updated to the TNT-lite, which fixed the AngryBirds not working properly. I also was successfully able to tether this to my rooted Droid1 phone via Barnacle and now have a working tablet that is able to go online anywhere via the 3G from the Droid!. I also was able to install Orb and then using the orb.com website I can stream video to the G-Tablet from my PC